“Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” This quote, attributed to Irish statesman Edmund Burke, is very well suited to the chessboard. From Scholars' mate onwards, the student of chess soon learns that ideas from past games can easily be employed against them if they remain ignorant of the rich trove of classic chess literature.
One of the problems with only studying recent grandmaster games, is that the top players have already absorbed the lessons from the greats, and don't allow them to occur at the board. The double-bishop sacrifice that is the theme of today's game was astonishing when first recorded in 1889, but by the 1960's is only referred to by the then world champion Mikhail Tal as 'the standard sacrifice' that might have occurred in the notes to one of his games.
Today's game is taken from the 2012 Otago Club Championship and features the writer as White against promising junior player Leighton Nicholls. Nicholls earned promotion to the A Grade in the this year's championship and acquitted himself well on his debut. The 2012 Otago Club Champion was Robert Wansink, who dominated with a score of 9/10.
1.d4 d5 2.c4 c6 3.Nf3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.e3 Be7 6.b3 Nbd7 7.Bd3 0-0 8.0-0 b6 9.Bb2 Bb7 10.Ne5 ---
The game has been following one of the quieter paths of the Slav Defence, but this move is overambitious compared to the more normal 10 Qe2. Black should now exchange the intruding knight immediately for an equal game after 10... Nxe5 11 dxe5 Nd7, whereas the move chosen allows White to support his knight outpost. 10.--- Qc7 11.f4 c5 12.Rc1 Rac8?!
This allows White to harry the black queen, gaining time to set up a strong kingside attack. 12...a6 was more prudent, denying the knight access to b5. At this point White saw the chance to emulate a famous combination and went for it. 13.Nb5! Qb8 14.Nxd7 Nxd7 15.dxc5! bxc5?
Black does not suspect the coming storm, which a student of the great Emanuel Lasker's games could not fail to spot. Compare the current postion to that after Black's 14th move in the game Lasker – Bauer, Amsterdam 1889: 1.f4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b3 e6 4.Bb2 Be7 5.Bd3 b6 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Ne2 c5 10.Ng3 Qc7 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Qc6 13.Qe2 a6 14.Nh5 Nxh5 15.Bxh7+! Kxh7 16.Qxh5+ Kg8 17.Bxg7! Kxg7 18.Qg4+ Kh7 19.Rf3 e5 20.Rh3+ Qh6 21.Rxh6+ Kxh6 22.Qd7 Bf6 23.Qxb7 and White won. The key similarities of the two raking bishops against an undisturbed castled position, a pawn on f4, the white queen's access to h5 and the rook's access to f3 are clear. It only remains to calculate out the moves based on Lasker's model. The same sacrifice would also work after either 15...Nxc5 or 15...Bxc5. The only way to prevent it was to control f3 by 15...dxc4!, but after 16 Bxc4 Bxc5 17 Qg4! White retains a strong attack. 16.Bxh7+! Kxh7 17.Qh5+ Kg8 18.Bxg7! Kxg7
Declining the second bishop doesn't help: 18... f6 (or 18...f5) 19 Qg6 Rf7 20 Bh6+ Kh8 21 Qxf7 Rg8 22 Rf3 and the threat of Rh3 mating wins. Now mate is forced. 19.Qg4+ Kh8 20.Rf3 Nf6 21.Rh3+ Nh7 22.Qh5 Bh4 23.Rxh4 Kg7 24.Qh6+ Resigns
Taking history lessons
Problem: Black to play and mate in 3.
“Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it.” This quote, attributed to Irish statesman Edmund Burke, is very well suited to the chessboard. From Scholars' mate onwards, the student of chess soon learns that ideas from past games can easily be employed against them if they remain ignorant of the rich trove of classic chess literature.
One of the problems with only studying recent grandmaster games, is that the top players have already absorbed the lessons from the greats, and don't allow them to occur at the board. The double-bishop sacrifice that is the theme of today's game was astonishing when first recorded in 1889, but by the 1960's is only referred to by the then world champion Mikhail Tal as 'the standard sacrifice' that might have occurred in the notes to one of his games.
Today's game is taken from the 2012 Otago Club Championship and features the writer as White against promising junior player Leighton Nicholls. Nicholls earned promotion to the A Grade in the this year's championship and acquitted himself well on his debut. The 2012 Otago Club Champion was Robert Wansink, who dominated with a score of 9/10.
1.d4 d5
2.c4 c6
3.Nf3 Nf6
4.Nc3 e6
5.e3 Be7
6.b3 Nbd7
7.Bd3 0-0
8.0-0 b6
9.Bb2 Bb7
10.Ne5 ---
The game has been following one of the quieter paths of the Slav Defence, but this move is overambitious compared to the more normal 10 Qe2. Black should now exchange the intruding knight immediately for an equal game after 10... Nxe5 11 dxe5 Nd7, whereas the move chosen allows White to support his knight outpost.
10.--- Qc7
11.f4 c5
12.Rc1 Rac8?!
This allows White to harry the black queen, gaining time to set up a strong kingside attack. 12...a6 was more prudent, denying the knight access to b5. At this point White saw the chance to emulate a famous combination and went for it.
13.Nb5! Qb8
14.Nxd7 Nxd7
15.dxc5! bxc5?
Black does not suspect the coming storm, which a student of the great Emanuel Lasker's games could not fail to spot. Compare the current postion to that after Black's 14th move in the game Lasker – Bauer, Amsterdam 1889: 1.f4 d5 2.e3 Nf6 3.b3 e6 4.Bb2 Be7 5.Bd3 b6 6.Nf3 Bb7 7.Nc3 Nbd7 8.0-0 0-0 9.Ne2 c5 10.Ng3 Qc7 11.Ne5 Nxe5 12.Bxe5 Qc6 13.Qe2 a6 14.Nh5 Nxh5 15.Bxh7+! Kxh7 16.Qxh5+ Kg8 17.Bxg7! Kxg7 18.Qg4+ Kh7 19.Rf3 e5 20.Rh3+ Qh6 21.Rxh6+ Kxh6 22.Qd7 Bf6 23.Qxb7 and White won. The key similarities of the two raking bishops against an undisturbed castled position, a pawn on f4, the white queen's access to h5 and the rook's access to f3 are clear. It only remains to calculate out the moves based on Lasker's model. The same sacrifice would also work after either 15...Nxc5 or 15...Bxc5. The only way to prevent it was to control f3 by 15...dxc4!, but after 16 Bxc4 Bxc5 17 Qg4! White retains a strong attack.
16.Bxh7+! Kxh7
17.Qh5+ Kg8
18.Bxg7! Kxg7
Declining the second bishop doesn't help: 18... f6 (or 18...f5) 19 Qg6 Rf7 20 Bh6+ Kh8 21 Qxf7 Rg8 22 Rf3 and the threat of Rh3 mating wins. Now mate is forced.
19.Qg4+ Kh8
20.Rf3 Nf6
21.Rh3+ Nh7
22.Qh5 Bh4
23.Rxh4 Kg7
24.Qh6+ Resigns
1-0
Solution: 1 ... Rg6+ 2 Kh1 (2 Kf1 Qh3#) 2 ... Qxf3+! 3 Bxf3 Rxe1#.